I received an audio book version of this book to listen to and review via netgalley and the publishers.

The gravity inside us is a beautiful collection of poems that reflect on love, lost love, heartbreak, sorry, moving on, finding yourself and much more.
I found the physical copy of this book fantastic at the beginning and end but a little stagnant in the middle, however upon listening to it I liked the middle section of poems much more relatable and likeable. Which goes to show that poetry should be read aloud!

THE GRAVITY INSIDE US is beautifully written, and full of sentiments about the universe and our place in it. The author is very sure of what they want and what they will do to get it, and that assuredness is comforting. This LGBTQ+ book of love poems is a refreshing glimpse into love and all of the facets of it. Something that I struggled to adjust to was the monotone voice of the narrator.

The Gravity Inside Us written and narrated by Chloe Frayne is a very beautiful poem. The poetry is amazing and wonderfully narrated. The pace and volume of the narration is perfect. I fell in love with Chloe Frayne’s poetry. Wonderfully written and beautifully narrated. Thank you to Andrews McMeel Audio & Publishing and Netgalley for giving me an opportunity to listen to this amazing audiobook. #TheGravityInsideUs #Netgalley

This poetry audiobook is beautiful. Poems are relatively short and sometimes a bit repetitive, but that didn't bother me much. If I compare this narration to other poetry audiobooks. Narration is quite fast, and you couldn't always determine where one poem ended and the next started.

I liked the poems, and I must say that the author's narration made it even better for me. I have a feeling that my rating is slightly better because of this. Piano music in the background is, in my opinion, a nice addition to these poems.

Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this! All opinions are my own.

"Holding onto you is not worth losing me."

This book was such a rollercoast of emotion, I think I'll need a few days to process it.
It talks about heartache, heartbreak, finding hope and clinging to a lost love. It was confusing trying to make sense of this wirlwind of emotions and to understand when the tune of the narrative was turning, because one moment the author was saying that this book is to say goodbye to a lover that broke their heart, and in the next paragraph they talk about how they'd give everything to have them back in their life again.

The narrative was beautifully written, I'm not much of a fan of poems (or so I thought), but this book was so beautifully written that it's making me yearn for a short collection of poems to see if I'm into it. The main subject, though, threw me off guard. When reading the summary I was expecting a story about different and broader aspects of life, instead it is heavily focused on the "romance" area, leaving other subjects on the back burner. I can't heavily relate to the contents of the book because it's been a while since I last experienced heartbreak (fortunate, I know), but it made me reflect on how it'd be my life if my S.O. disappeared from it. It hurt like hell.

About the audiobook, the audio was so low that I couldn't listen to it in the car, the main place I listen to audiobooks. The narrator has a beautiful voice that complements the story so well, it's soothing and full of emotion, but the narration is rushed at some points, where the words are just getting out (fast) without worrying about the story they're telling and the pacing this story needs, which is incompatible with the text that's full of emotion.

Overall this book was a nice read, I think people who are experiencing the loss of a loved one will relate to it better than me, but I still appreciate the wonderfulness of the words written, even if I can't fully feel them.

This was such a touching collection of poetry. I felt an immediate connection with the words, and the narration was lovely. It felt like Chloe Frayne was speaking directly to my soul -- her heartbreak was my heartbreak, her love was my love. Each piece was connected, flowing perfectly and how pretty is that cover?! It was well paced, soothing, and enjoyable to listen to. Frayne's voice lulled me. Highly recommend.

The Gravity Inside Us by Chloe Frayne was a beautiful collection of poetry. This is going to be a very mixed review, as I really enjoyed the poetry, but I did have a few issues with the audiobook format.

First, the poetry. I enjoyed most of the poetry. I loved the theme of gravity, loss, grief, love, time, space, nature, etc. I found them unique, and I connected with many of them.

Second, the narration. While I usually enjoy books narrated by the authour, I found this one difficult to listen to. First of all, I did not love Chloe's voice. I got used to it as the audiobook went, but it was not one I would seek out in the future. Also, usually I find authors put extra emphasis in certain parts of their work when they are speaking it aloud. I also tend to listen to my audiobook on a faster speed than 1X. I found Frayne just spoke as fast as she could throughout most of the book. She sounded very robotic and lacked a lot of emotion and emphasis. I had to turn it lower than 1X, and I still found it way too fast to fully enjoy the poetry.

Third, the music. Often, I love sound effects and music in audiobooks. While I did not mind the music, I thought it was just okay, and it was not fully necessary.

Overall, the poetry collection was very enjoyable. but in the future, I will be enjoying this in a book format and not audiobook.

4.75 for the book
2 for the narration

I received an advanced audiobook from Andrews McMeel Audio through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

**Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

So, to start, I'm reviewing the audiobook in particular, which is really important to consider. I did not go into listening to this book of poetry familiar with Chloë Frayne's work or social media presence, so it was completely fresh to me although I do love poetry and read it often. I'll start with a brief description of the overall quality of the audio, the body of text itself, and the positives.

First, the audio: narrator's voice (the author's herself) is just okay. She's a bit quiet and mumbling at times, but I do love hearing books read by the author because their tonality and choice of emphasis can be really illuminating for readers! We have a chance to hear the text as the author intended for it to be read.

Second, I'd like to mention something I found didn't add to the audio, and in fact distracted me from the experience of Chloë's words: the music sprinkled throughout the book. It was chintzy and cheesy and unnecessary.

Third, the work itself: this collection centers itself around the power of place, of love, of what pulls us towards and away from both. Alright, alright. Sounds good so far. There are glimmers of real insight and talent, and I wish I had scribbled those specific quotes down in my notes, because I'd like to offer more positivity here. I really loved this collection's title and intro: the idea of gravity being physical and emotional, of overlapping and intersecting worlds.

Otherwise, I can only offer my perspective, which was that it was HARD to listen to the entire audio, and not in a "she's digging into my deepest, sorest spots, offering deep and difficult perspective" kind of way. No, it was hard to listen to because it was repetitive, shallow, and like listening to a melancholic teenager's droning journal. The whole thing could have been better said in just a handful of higher-quality poems, but instead is broken into small freeform poems that repeat themselves again.and.again.and.again. In various overwrought figurative language and mixed metaphors. "You are an ocean, I am an ocean, no the ocean is distance" "I am a petal unfurling towards the sun" etc.

And, just quickly mentioning the second-person narration that undergirds the bulk of her work: it brought intimacy in some sense, like we're overhearing private conversations between lovers. But in another sense, the narrative style didn't work well in shaping the work to feel cohesive; it felt disjointed, as Frayne is clearly directing her voice towards various and different people throughout the collection, but there isn't any distinction between them. I respect her choice as a writer, but I'm noting here the experience of hearing these poems as an entire, complete collection. It felt a little off.

That's not to say I'm dismissive of her experiences in love or depression, or using metaphor to describe it. She's a poet! And as a fellow human, I find those subjects are always moving. Judging this book in terms of literary quality, though, it's just not there. I think it might come with maturity and a healthy relationship with editing. I won't write Frayne off just yet, and will look out for her coming collections to see how her writing and perspective develops and ages. Note: I'm rating this three stars because I reserve 1 and 2 star ratings for truly abysmal books, and this was definitely not awful.

The poems that were in this collection were absolutely amazing. The way the author kept the theme of gravity throughout the full work was wonderful. I was not a fan of the narration however the poems made up for that. I would absolutely recommend this collection.